They are among 121 Michigan communities and 10 college campuses recognized through their respective programs for work accomplished during 2023. All recipients will receive their award materials later this spring.

List of recipients ►

The newest college campus – Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek – joined nine recertifying schools in the Tree Campus-Higher Education program.

The Tree City USA program has four standards, which were created to allow communities of any size to participate. These include having a city department or tree board, a public tree care ordinance, an annual work plan and a budget of at least $2 per capita and proclaiming and celebrating Arbor Day, which takes place April 26 this year.

The Arbor Day Foundation has been reviewing its Standard 2 Ordinance requirement to make room for any size or type of community. The changes discussed around Standard 2 should open the doors for many more communities across the country to join the program.

To find out more about the Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree USA programs, visit arborday.org/programs.

For questions on the DNR’s Urban and Community Forestry program, contact Lawrence Sobson at [email protected] or 313-316-4137. More information also is available at Michigan.gov/UCF.

Purchase online at Michigan.gov/DNRLicenses or at DNR customer service centers across the state. Many sporting good outlets and service stations also sell fishing licenses.

Licenses can be purchased on the Michigan DNR Hunt Fish app, too. Access license info, maps, certificates and more on the go – download from the App Store for Apple devices and the Google Play Store for Android devices.

If you have questions about buying a license, contact the DNR’s license sales help desk at 517-284-6057.

Didymo blooms were first observed in Michigan waters in 2015 in the St. Marys River and then the Manistee and Boardman rivers in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Didymo has the potential to spread to new areas when cells attach to anglers’ waders and gear.

New Zealand mudsnails are only about 1/8 inch long, but they can change aquatic habitats by reaching extremely high densities and outcompeting native macroinvertebrates, leaving fish food in short supply.

New Zealand mudsnail populations are known to be present in the Au Sable, Boardman, Grass, Pere Marquette, Pine and Upper Manistee rivers in Michigan. Mudsnails can survive out of water for several days. Because of their small size, they are easily transported on boats, anchors and fishing gear such as waders and nets.

Learn about more actions anglers and boaters can take to prevent the spread of invasive species.

To report New Zealand mudsnail, take photos and make note of the location, date and time of the observation. There are a few ways to report your observation:

• Contact Lucas Nathan, DNR, at [email protected] or 517-599-9323, or Bill Keiper, Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, at [email protected].
• Use the Midwest Invasive Species Information Network online reporting tool.
• Download the MISIN smartphone app at MISIN.MSU.edu/tools/apps/#home and report from your phone.

In the spring and summer of 2021, the Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery experienced three major power failures. The primary electrical infrastructure failed at three separate points during that time.

Also, the primary electrical distribution system was failing. This was a real wake-up call for the Fisheries Division and the DNR.

Planning had already been underway for a substantial funding request to address the needs for capital improvements at our hatcheries. These failures highlighted the critical need to invest in Michigan’s hatchery infrastructure.

Then the pandemic hit, and we had to postpone some operations, including egg collections for steelhead that year. Had we taken steelhead eggs in 2020, we later realized that it likely would have resulted in most, if not all, of the eggs being lost with the infrastructure failures – a blessing in disguise from the coronavirus pandemic.

When I was asked to tell the story about the capital outlay projects, I thought that it may not be of interest because we haven’t really broken ground on most projects, and construction projects are not that flashy to talk about.

But when I began thinking about what we have accomplished in the last 18 months, it is apparent that the scale of the projects at our six hatcheries is huge and likely the most substantial investment in our hatcheries for decades.

Our next step was to get a design firm on board. After that, we shared our vision with the designers and strategized how we would accomplish this mission over the next four years.

Getting the design firm and the initial planning done, which put us six months down the road, led us to an understanding.

We realized that we may not have enough funding to do everything that our hatcheries needed given changes in the economy, including inflation and supply chain concerns, as well as the decade-long backlog in major maintenance and repair projects.

To address this, we initiated a process of prioritization, which allowed us to be prepared to make difficult decisions and adapt through the construction process.

The sheer number of projects spread across the hatchery facilities was daunting.

So, we teamed up with Hobbs + Black Architects of Lansing, who have brought on many top-notch design firms, including McMillen Inc. of Boise, Idaho, which is one of the nation’s best aquaculture design and construction firms.

Construction will be managed by Spence Brothers Construction of Traverse City for the northern three facilities and Christman Constructors of Lansing for the southern three facilities.

Part of our strategy going forward was to separate projects into north and south regions, like the way our hatcheries are organized and managed. Also, a common theme among the projects is improving energy efficiency.

We have been meeting with designers and engineers every two weeks for the past year, a year that began by discussing projects on a large scale. As an implementation strategy developed, we shifted focus to first-year projects.

Those projects are now nearing final design stages, and construction contracts will likely be executed this coming summer. Meetings and strategizing will continue as construction begins and the details of the projects for the coming three years are finalized.

The myriad components of this large capital outlay work fall largely under three general categories, including deferred infrastructure needs, energy-efficiency improvements and biosecurity improvements.

Here is a closer look at what exactly will be happening over the next three summers.

Marquette State Fish Hatchery in Marquette County houses brood stock for our brook trout, lake trout and Arctic grayling programs. It is also a production facility that stocks brook trout, lake trout and splake in Michigan waters.

The Marquette hatchery is slated to get a new roof on the hatchery building and a new energy-efficient boiler, as well as updated heating, ventilation and air conditioning controls in 2024. A new brood-isolation building will be built to replace the current crumbling structure. Leveling of settling concrete around the facility to improve accessibility will cap off the 2025 projects. Finally, in 2026, the facility will be completely repaved.

Thompson State Fish Hatchery in Schoolcraft County produces steelhead and Chinook salmon for stocking in Michigan waters. Thompson is also home to a state-of-the-art cool-water facility that supports walleye and muskellunge rearing programs.

In 2017, the Thompson hatchery was expanded to include a cool-water facility and pond rearing complex as part of a capital outlay package. An updated automated fish-feeding system was also installed in the outdoor steelhead rearing complex at this time. The 2023 capital outlay package included many needed upgrades to the cold-water facility.

Thompson is slated to have a new truck storage building built in 2024 at the cool-water facility to house fish-stocking vehicles and various fish-rearing equipment used at the new facility. Resurfacing concrete in the production raceways and indoor rearing units should vastly improve fish quality and health in 2025.

Additionally, improving hatchery insulation and dehumidification as part of updating HVAC systems will improve energy-efficiency efforts. Finally in 2026, the cold-water facility will be completely repaved, and the cool-water facility will be partially paved.

The Thompson hatchery will also be provided $3.5 million for the upgrades.

Oden State Fish Hatchery in Emmet County houses brood stock for brown and rainbow trout programs. It is also a production facility for that stocks brown and rainbow trout in Michigan waters.

A couple of ongoing projects including a Parshall flume, for measuring discharge flow, and 2023 well-reclamation work were supported through this funding allocation.

Repairing and repaving the hatchery visitor center parking lot and infrastructure maintenance for the building and a historic fish railcar are taking center stage at Oden in 2024. A new domestic well for the drum screen building will improve effluent management in 2024.

In 2025, a much-needed new disinfection station will be constructed, to improve biosecurity for fish-stocking trucks coming on-site following stocking trips. The main hatchery building will get modifications to the roof and new siding that is better suited for the climate conditions of the region.

The Oden hatchery is receiving $2.6 million to fund the work.

Platte River State Fish Hatchery in Benzie County produces Atlantic, Chinook and coho salmon for stocking in Michigan waters. Additionally, the Platte River facility produces walleye fry for the DNR’s walleye program.

A couple of ongoing projects were completed with this funding in 2023, including stabilizing the Lower Platte River Weir and installing new roofs on the administration, hatchery and service buildings.

In 2024, resurfacing concrete maturation ponds built in the 1960s, for holding return adult coho salmon, and replacing a backup generator and associated electrical distribution from the same era are scheduled to be completed.

For 2025, projects will include shoring up the exteriors, including doors and windows, damaged by previous poor roof conditions and age of buildings that received new roofs in 2023.

Finally in 2026, the facility will be repaved, and pavement will be added to and from the pull-through-style truck storage barn at the lower weir.

The Platte River facility will receive $6 million to finance the updates.

Harrietta State Fish Hatchery in Wexford County produces Atlantic salmon, brown trout and rainbow trout for stocking in Michigan waters.

A repaving for the facility was already underway and was finished using funding from the 2023 appropriation. A new backup generator, electrical distribution panels, aeration pumps with variable frequency drives, boiler and two new backup generators at production wells will bring Harrietta up to speed with new energy-efficient electrical systems in 2024.

The hatchery will receive $3.5 million to complete these projects.

Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery in Van Buren County produces steelhead and Chinook salmon for stocking in Michigan waters. Wolf Lake also supports the walleye and muskellunge rearing programs.

There is a current primary power, electrical distribution project underway that is supported by the funding allocation. Redrilling two production water wells to replace two that have outrun their useful lives will greatly improve fish-rearing conditions.

Two new backup generators, electrical distribution panels, aeration pumps with variable frequency drives and two new backup generators at the new production wells will bring Wolf Lake up to date with new energy-efficient electrical systems in 2024.

For 2025, projects will include new roofs on the visitor center and hatchery buildings. A new cool-water building will be constructed, bolstering the walleye and muskellunge programs. Relining rearing ponds, resurfacing concrete raceways and indoor rearing tanks, constructing a new maintenance building and a new automated fish-feeding system will round out the projects for the year.

Finally, in 2026, the entire facility will be repaved.

The Wolf Lake hatchery will receive the most amount of funding from the state allocation at $11 million for its scheduled improvements.

At the end of the day, we will have put blood, sweat and tears into these projects and, as I said earlier, we don’t really have anything flashy or shiny to show for it yet, but results are coming.

The next three summers will be busy with construction projects moving forward at a hatchery near you.

Please excuse our mess and watch your step when you come to visit us, but take in the amazing upgrades to our fish hatcheries that will pay dividends to enhancing our fisheries for decades to come.

Learn more about the DNR’s fish hatcheries and weirs at Michigan.gov/Hatcheries.

“Winterkill is the most common type of fish kill,” said Jeremiah Blaauw, DNR Fisheries Division biologist. “As the season changes, it can be particularly common in shallow lakes, ponds, streams and canals. These fish deaths are localized and typically do not affect the overall health of the fish populations or fishing quality.”

Shallow lakes with excess aquatic vegetation and soft bottoms are more prone to this problem, particularly when a deep snowpack reduces sunlight for the plants. Canals in urban areas also are quite susceptible due to the large amounts of nutrient runoff and pollution from roads and lawns and septic systems that flow into these areas, especially from large storm events.

Fish and other aquatic life typically die in late winter but may not be noticed until a month after the ice leaves lakes. That’s because the dead fish and other aquatic life are temporarily preserved by the cold water. Fish also may be affected by rapid changes in water temperature due to unseasonably warm temperatures leading to stress and, sometimes, mortality.

Fish can become easily stressed in winter due to low energy reserves because feeding is at a minimum in winter. They are then less able to handle low oxygen and temperature swings.

Dissolved oxygen is required by fish and all other forms of aquatic life. Once daylight is greatly reduced by ice and snow cover, aquatic plants stop producing oxygen and many die. The bacteria that decompose organic materials on the bottom of a lake use the remaining oxygen in the water. Once the oxygen is reduced and other aquatic animals die and start decomposing, the rate that oxygen is used for decomposition is additionally increased – that means that dissolved oxygen levels in the water decrease even further, leading to increasing winterkill.

“We are expecting less mortality events this year with the limited ice cover we experienced throughout the majority of the state,” Blaauw said. “People should still report their observations. We are especially interested in knowing what species of fish were observed, numbers observed, the estimated sizes of fish observed, and if it appears to be an ongoing mortality event.”

Learn more about fish kills and other fish/fisheries-related resources at Michigan.gov/Fishing.

The public is welcome to report fish kills using the DNR’s Eyes in the Field website; such reports are valuable to the DNR’s ability to manage the state’s aquatic resources. If you suspect a fish kill is due to non-natural causes, call the nearest DNR office or Michigan’s Pollution Emergency Alert System at 800-292-4706.